Half Day
Today is the end of the 2nd
term at school and as I understand it, there is now a 2 or 3 week break until
the 3rd term begins in early September.
I must admit I prefer the school
year in Botswana. Three roughly equal
terms beginning in early January. Term 1
ends in March and is about 12 weeks long.
Terms 2, as mentioned, ends to today and then Term 3 will take the
school year up to early December just before Christmas. Then a relatively long 6 week Christmas or
summer break.
No over-extended summer break
like in Ontario which I consider is too long for the kids. Plus here they get two other 3 week breaks throughout
the year to allow time away from the school.
Anyway, Grace headed off to
school for 7:50 a.m. and was back by 10.
Just like home, an early dismissal on the last day of the school term.
Binnie was saying there was an
argument between Grace and Mma Binnie about clothes. Grace wanted to wear casual clothes and no
shoes and Mma Binnie indicated that her proper school uniform was
required. We all know how that turned
out!
Casual Fridays
According to Binnie on Fridays
the students can wear casual clothing if they pay 1 pula (dollar) equivalent to
12¢. Interestingly enough similar to the
concept back home.
Disaster
After coming home from school
Grace got out Gordon’s soccer ball and was playing with it behind the
house. After a few minutes she got bored
and wandered away leaving the ball on the ground.
A few minutes later Binnie was
backing up the car to load it up and in the midst of doing so, I heard a loud
pop. Needless to say she had run over
the soccer ball and somehow rather than rolling away it got squished. There is now a nice 2” gash in one of the
seams and the ball is now history.
Needless to say Gordon was less
than pleased with his mother!! However,
there was blame to share between Grace, Binnie and Gordon. Something about looking after your things.
The Mill
Binnie’s task today was to take
two 50kg bags of corn kernels to the next village (Moshupa?) to the local mill
to have the kernels ground into a white coloured corn powder. I assume this powder then becomes part of a
meal by adding water (milk?) and boiling it up in a pot. I believe to be included in the wedding
celebration. She did not know exactly
where the mill was located and how long the process was going to take. Being the helpful husband I volunteered to
stay home and hear about the road trip afterwards!
Stress
Being in a place that is downright
peaceful and quiet it is hard to get too worked up about much. For example, apart from voices floating in
from nearby houses, you may hear a total of 4 or 5 cars a day.
However, for about a day now
Binnie has been on edge and although I was aware something was not quite right,
the source was lost to me.
Then as husbands do, the light bulb
finally went on. A week today is Bagolo’s
wedding and although there is a lot to do to get ready, there seems to be very
little going on.
I tried to explain to Binnie that
we are not in charge of the wedding and we are only here to take part and help
out. (Apparently we have all been given
tasks. I am to be a cook (!!!) and
Gordon is in the wedding party).
Nevertheless Binnie is concerned
that things are not coming together and is stressing out about it.
In one sense I can understand
that as I am lead to believe there is going to be in excess of 200 or 300
people here for the wedding and celebration and they are all to be fed and
entertained. At this hour there is very
little in the way of supplies or bodies to work on this task.
I will admit my own concern is
that with 9 siblings, spouses, significant others and kids, very shortly Mma
Binnie’s compound is going to be swamped with family. How the logistics are going to work out is
beyond me, although I can envision 30 or 40 of us all within the property.
How would that function in our
house in Trenton? Probably not that easily. Time will tell.
Honey To Do Lists
Funny you can come 1,000’s of
miles from home only to be given a list of “projects”. I thought this was a holiday?? It is bad enough getting me to get things done
around our house in Trenton and here I am at my mother-in-laws with things to
do.
Actually I don’t really mind but
it is a bit challenging when you don’t have a ready tool box full of tools to
do what has to be done. In addition,
where have all Binnie’s sisters and brothers been? Why
have I come from Canada to see a series of maintenance items and they have not
already been tackled?
The list: fix the handle and the
flushing mechanism inside the toilet; replace 2 broken panes of glass in Mma
Binnie’s bedroom window; glue plastic ABS drain pipe from kitchen sink that has
come apart at the joint; install wooden door on outdoor cooking house.
As far as I’m concerned all
easily enough to do, given the tools and scheduling the work so that I am working
in the shade.
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